THE NAKED CITY – THE SUBTLE ART OF REGIFTING

With Christmas almost upon us we are about to witness that last minute frenzy of obligatory gift buying, whipped up by retailers, the media and our inert sense of cultural tradition. There’s definitely something indecent about the whole exercise, as shoppers paw over those potential last minute Christmas pressies.

There is a solution of course to all that eleventh hour hysteria and it’s called “regifting”––defined by the good folk at Wikipedia as “the act of taking a gift that has been received and giving it to somebody else, sometimes in the guise of a new gift”. Whilst in Australia we are continually encouraged to cut down on unnecessary waste and recycle wherever possible, “regifting” still carries a distinct social stigma.

Elsewhere in the world the concept is becoming more and more acceptable. In America there are not only designated regifting exchanges, but a national day of regifting, outdone only by the Canadians who devote an entire week to the ritual.

Trawl the internet and you’ll find numerous websites devoted to the art of regifting. One particular site, designed for the compulsive regifter, actually suggests that you keep a spreadsheet of your unwanted gifts, tracking their movement through friends and family and avoiding that awkward moment when they arrive back with the original giver.

Retailers and manufacturers of course hate the idea, as should it become the social norm, it would have a snowball effect in driving down sales. eBay and Gumtree probably view it as a windfall, as unwanted gifts flood their sites in the post-Christmas period. This is not exactly regifting in the traditional sense, but the money earned could certainly go towards next year’s presents.

Packaging is cunningly designed so that once opened it is difficult to reassemble in the original condition, and retailers definitely have a vested interest in maintaining the stigma––painting all regifters as cheapskates and grinches. Whether we will ever see a national regifting day in this country remains to be seen, but the movement is definitely spreading worldwide.

One idea being currently promoted in England and the US really appeals to us. It’s a “FEEL FREE TO REGIFT” sticker that you attach to your present or accompanying Christmas card. It lets your receiver know that if they think the present is a turkey, there’s a charity that will gladly accept it and recycle it, perhaps in a poverty stricken third world country. That could well mean somewhere like Bangladesh being deluged with tins of Danish biscuits and packets of men’s socks, so obviously a sense of both conscience and practicality should apply.

Hey, when it all boils down, it’s not the gift that really counts, it’s the though behind it––and that could well be the suspicion that your loving Christmas present is about to do the rounds.